Jets receiver Santonio Holmes frequently walks around the locker room with a scowl on his face, making it clear to reporters he's unapproachable except for the one time a week when the NFL mandates that he speak to reporters.

But in an appearance Monday night on Inside the Jets with Bob Wischusen on ESPN New York 98.7 FM, Holmes was humble, thoughtful, engaging and personable as he discussed a variety of Jets-related topics.

Holmes, who cut short his postgame media session after Sunday's 24-13 victory over the Browns, opened his conversation with Wischusen by stating he could have been more productive in that game. Specifically and without prompting, Holmes brought up "the two dropped passes."

Holmes then proceeded to speak in the first person plural when referring to the Jets.

"But we're really excited about what happened yesterday," Holmes said. "It was a great team victory for all of us, and even for the fans. I think finishing these last two games, we'll have something to look forward going into next year."

"I love the guy, I love this kid," Holmes said. "He has an understanding for the game. And to have that understanding as a young quarterback, you have to kind of let him go on his own. He's going to look back a few times, but when he knows what to do because you've taught him everything, now allow him to do it. And that's what our offense did over the course of the year. It's starting to understand that he understands the game at the professional level. Hopefully, we'll look for great things in the future."

Holmes said the biggest growth he's seen from Smith has been "his leadership," adding that "it's always been there from Day 1, but you see him taking charge of the huddle in practice when things aren't going right. ... He does the things right in practice that has shown that he knows what to do on game day and what the coaches expect out of him.

"Everything takes time. We don't all become great professional football players the next day."

Holmes also addressed the topic of head coach Rex Ryan: "I think Rex is doing it the right way. He's building the program with some veterans in spots that are just sprinkled around the field. He's bringing in guys that are filling in those positions."

On the subject of Ryan's job uncertainty, Holmes said: "We still believe in everything that coach has been talking about since Day 1, and even up until this point. We don't walk around the locker room worried if our coach is going to get fired. We came here to line up to finish 16, 17 games, and play football."

Holmes played just 53 of 77 offensive snaps Sunday, but he chalked up that and other variations in playing time to the nuances of Marty Mornhinweg's offensive system.

"I know most people would say, 'Why's he not playing so much, or why's he only playing this amount of plays?'" Holmes said. "But it was the style of offense we had that we were trying to get explosive plays throughout the season, and in order to keep our guys fresh, we rotated, we split carries, we split catches, and that's the way football is, because it's the ultimate team sport."

Asked to assess his season, Holmes said he wished he could have been "more consistent." Holmes missed the last 12 games in 2012 with a Lisfranc injury, and he's battled hamstring issues and other nicks this year.

"I did everything necessary with the training staff to continue playing as many games as I could, and then I suffered the hamstring injury, which was very unfortunate," Holmes said.

The problem, Holmes admitted, began in the offseason leading into 2012. He then said he's still dealing with the impact of the Lisfranc injury.

"I didn't put enough miles leading up into the season that I normally do, year-in and year-out, for six years that I've been a professional, even going into the seventh season, which ended after four games. I had to take my time, training, rehabbing, working my way back into understanding how my foot has been dysfunctioned, and now how can I develop this foot to doing the same thing it used to."

Holmes then dropped in a Ferrari simile.

"As someone was (saying) to me yesterday, it's like a Ferrari," he said. "When you have a little bend in the brakes or the gas pedal, like something just doesn't work right, it throws it off that much. To need my wheels to be able to produce and run fast and cut in and out of routes, it takes time to develop that again. I think I needed this season to go through it and see if I had the mental attitude to play this season and play through this type of injury. And next offseason, it'll be even greater that I can produce myself back into the Santonio Holmes that I once was and what I feel like myself."